En av Europas få diktaturer : En studie av orsakerna till att Vitryssland inte har demokratiserats

• Main Author: Knutsson, David
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST) 2018
• Subjects: Democracy; democratization; Belarus; authoritarianism; transition; Lukasjenko; Social Sciences; Samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-75366

This paper aims to examine Belarus and explain why the country has failed to democratize during the period of 2008-2017, but also if there has been any tendency for democratization during this period. The study is conducted through an analysis of underlying and significant factors for initiating the actual democratization process. The factors analysed are internal, external and regional factors. The method that was applied to this study was a case study were theories of democratization were used to analyse Belarus's democratic development and tendencies towards democracy. The study points out that all factors did play a role in the Belarusian democracy development and tendencies for democratization did exist. Belarus has failed to fully democratize as the regime successfully centralizes the power which is controlled through different means and strategies but there has been a tendency for democratization. The tendency for democratization has been through internal factors as there is an existing middle class and there is an existing critical opposition. For the external factors, a tendency has been shown by the snowball effect, as there have been geographically close demonstrations and democratization, and finally for the regional factors, tendencies for democracy could be identified as there is a desire for a return to the west among the population of Belarus.